Animal rights group wins High Court appeal but is ordered to destroy video footage captured in abattoir

An animal rights group that planted cameras around a Victorian goat abattoir has won a High Court challenge over who owns the rights to the covertly captured video footage, but the court has ordered it to destroy the recordings.

Farm Transparency International (FTI) said it was extremely disappointed by the outcome, which it said would stifle the public's right to know what happens inside slaughterhouses. 

The case involved a director and an employee from FTI who secretly installed cameras at a halal abattoir in Eurobin, in north-east Victoria.

They admitted to trespassing onto the property, owned by Game Meats Company of Australia (GMC), seven times between January and April 2024.

With the footage, FTI put together a 14-minute video of what they described as "extreme animal cruelty".